so you cant see a big fat jedi eh? except as an alien, not a human. what about humanoids? a human from a heavy gravity planet would tend to be bigger and if the planet were cold, then he might be heavier too eh?

sorry about my opionated reply, but being a large guy, i had to have a reason for being large. i also love the more well rounded women as well. i have seen large women as jedi and they carried it off well. especially using the old obi-wan look with the robe-like outer tunic.

im sure the mods are going to erase this, but costumes can be made for anyone and should be worn by anyone who wants to and the jedi look is one of the best for those who happen to be large and love star wars.

there....ive had my two cents....take me away now! [holds up hands for handcuffs]

Personally, I think people of ALL shapes and sizes can look fabulous, in regular clothes or costumes. (I have known many plus-size people who really know how to dress, and always look sleek and sophisticated. I also have known some very fit people who are less adept at style, and often look kind of dumpy due to their clothing choices.)
I do think that knowing what works on a fuller body type is vital to making it all work, though. Not even working towards a minimizing effect neccesarily, but just creating silhouette lines that are pleasing to the eye.
Humans are naturally put at ease by longer, more fluid lines than short or broken ones. Since the Jedi are theoretically supposed to embody peace and calm, I think that's a good touchstone for design ideas.

Also, of course, a big consideration should be what the wearer feels most comfortable in, not just physically, but mentally. If you feel like you look great, the confidence you project will make other people think you look great, too.

I'm a rather large person myself, and I'm self-concious when it comes to my weight. I was originally planning on doing a Jedi costume as my first costume, but I did a Royal Guard instead. I've had that costume for 2 years now and I've always been scared of it. But two weeks ago at the Symphony, I felt so confident in that thing that I'm at the point if I can survive 3 hours in the helmet without air and without tripping over my cloak, I can do anything!

I now even have an Emperor/Dark Jedi costume that I'm proud to wear and a Female Han Solo that I break out for kicks. It's about having fun in the costume, and in my opinon that's all that matters.

Okay, I can see that I got mistaken there. I was simply saying that if you have a few extra pounds then you should try to hide it when in costume. If you are large, then you are large. You can't girdle it in. Birrer is a big guy too and you couldn't girdle him in. I, on the other hand, have to remember to "suck it in" or I'll be that pot bellied Jedi.

By saying "a large species" I was suggesting just such a thing. That they would be a heavy-worlder or species larger than real humans with a general humanoid appearance. Heck, maybe you are just Andre the Giant.

However, it is rare that anything but a child would be taken into the Jedi ranks. And that child would be raised on Couruscant. Not a heavy world. So, heavy-worlder may not work. But to think that a large humanoid species could exist is quite reasonable in the SW universe.

I certainly didn't mean to slam anyone over their weight. Surliegirl makes a good point that it will take a larger person more effort to make their costume create the effect the want. I have to say that I've seen a few scrawny Jedi that look just awful as well.

In general, what I was trying to say is that we should make every effort to look as good as possible in costumes. Think of it this way... If you show up in costume and look bad (unkempt, disorganized, unfitted) then you look like, gasp, a dork, a nerd. If you show up in a well fitted, well thought out costume, then you look like a craftsman and a fan.

I read on one costuming site once that when in costume you should be in character. Would a Jedi ever be sloppy? Of course not. They would stand up straight. The would be dignified in every way. You would want to stand with the same stance. You would want to speak in the same way.

I'm not saying you HAVE to. I'm saying that I'm personally very picky. And think that people should make every effort to look their best. That you should consider you costume as "Sunday Best" type dress clothes. You want to be dressed to the nines for the ficticious society you want to fit into regardless of what your costume is; Jedi, Sith, Tolkien, Matrix, etc...

i apologise JK and humbly beg your pardon. i thought you were slamming large people and one of the reasons im in this soceity is that predudice seems to be a lot less noticeable. of course i realize it is everywhere and some people cant help the way they were raised. you are correct of course. if one wishes to dress as a jedi, one should also act the part. ive noticed whenever i put on my jedi garb, i stand straighter and feel more like a jedi should. you are also right, even slender people can dress badly. larger people can look good if they plan thier costumes accordingly. oh...on the heavy world jedi thing. the jedi have temples and training centers on more worlds than just corusant. who knows there might be one on a heavy grav world. anyway thats my reason for being a quote on quote large jedi.

Birrer is a big guy too and you couldn't girdle him in. and let me add not enought ppl in the world to convince me to wear one. I admit it, I have a gut. I wont try and hide it in a costume, just adjust the costume so it looks like i am not trying to hide it.Basicaly just go with the flow.

Ok, I know this is because I am obsessive about this particular subject, but all this girdle talk gave me an idea... and now I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate a corset into a jedi costume.
Sigh.
I do love corsets.

Anyway, the trick would be making it seem sensible and action-oriented rather than constricting, but I think it could be done. This may have to go on the to-do list.

Yeah, building it for action may be a bit difficult. But I'm sure you can figure it out...

You'll still have to bend at the waist comfortably and twist from side to side. Probably won't be able to get it too tight. Perhaps the sides stitched together (instead of the back) with elastic straps. In extreme situations it would give, but the rest of the time it would give tight, clean lines.

Man, I never thought I would ever be spending my time chatting on the Internet about sewing and corsets?!!

If one were made entirely with spiral steel bones (which allow a little more movement than flat steel), it would probably work. The plastic bones that are available at most fabric stores allow more bend, but provide less support. Hmmmmm... many ideas swirling in my noggin...

German faux whalebone would be good. It's light, washable and definitely does give support. I've only ever used it and my corsets etc are plenty supportive You just need to bone as much as the original whaleboned corsets were

Eowyn's sheild maiden corselet might be a way to go. It appears to be only lightly boned... of course she's teeny But the idea of an under bust corset made from firm fabrics (interfacings galore) and sort of a mimic of an obi might work.

You could also go the "false-corset" route. Sorry, I don't know what else to call it. But it's the corset-style of bodice that's very much in style right now, and uses only very little boning - usually in the seams for shape support. I've seen several patterns for these in the Spring catalogs this year.

Also, to chime in here, I've recently discovered the wonderful joys of spring-steel boning. It's quite flexible and lets you bend in any direction - but it still gives the nice firm support that regular steel boning does. It might not be ideal for the active Jedi, tho. Nonetheless, it's worth looking into. I've purchased mine from [link=http://www.lacis.com]Lacis[/link], and they have pics of it on their website.

I thought I'd ask on this topic before making a separate one since it's Jedi related.

I wanted to fix up my belt a bit, and I was wondering where people were able to get the bigger rivets from. The ones I'm using right now are a little small and the smaller belt comes out from b/w them from time to time, especially when my saber's attached. If anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

wahoo! I've finally got my mock up of part of my Jedi Costume finished! yay, all my labour was not in vain!

If you remember, i was trying to figure out a way to make a less "frumptastical" tunic, and i think I've solved the problem. I modified a pattern I had for a vest/corset-type-thing that I had from a Renaissance costume, making the bottm all one length, giving the distictive cross-over closure and adding a "skirt" to it. For a rough mock-up made from a bed sheet, I think it looks pretty good.

As soon as I take some pics, I'll put them up.

on a different note, anybody got an idea where I can find a store that sells crinkle cotton in Canada? I asked the girl at Bouclair's the other day, and she had not idea what I was talking about. Fabricland maybe?

Are you trying to make a replica costume? Say a Qui-Gon or Anakin? Then of course accuracy is the ultimate goal.

If its not a replica, and instead is a 100% custom Jedi then accuracy isn't a factor.

Most people will fall into a middle ground. Their costume may be unique to them, but they will copy specific elements from the costume to give it that right look.

My costume is purely traditional prequel style, except in black. So its not a replica. However my belt, despite the colour, I'm proud to say is as close to a replica as you can get. I have the right dimensions, the right buckle (well the right Anakin/Mace buckle), the right button studs. It also has excellent versions of the food pellets and the pouches (functional even!).

Sure I could have made a belt that was more of a unique design, but there is something to be said for having such a close copy that makes the whole costume simply more Jedi in appearance.

I think while no two jedi dress alike, there is definitely an identifiable look to most of them (with obvious exceptions being characters like Aayla Secura, Luminara, etc.).
My rule of thumb: if it's easily recognizable as a jedi (this usually involves the undertunic/tunic/obi combo), I'd consider it "traditional."

i think the main reason the jedi in the arena battle wear a similar cut is because it's too hard to make seperate costumes for each jedi. most jedi wear similar style in the sense that they wear earth toned robes and cloaks, and they generally all have tabards. you can make anything look like jedi clothing by adding tabards, even a chinese shirt can have a jedi look if you put tabards on it. i wnt to the rebel legion website and half the jedi costumes have the obi wan look. despite the fact that obi-wan was the only jedi to wear white, all the costumers do the same. there were some nice original designs and colour schemes, but most were just copies.

I think the reason for that is that many of us, myself included, made their jedi costumes pre-AOTC. While you did see a couple other jedi costumes in TPM, you only really saw Qui Gon's and Obi Wan's. I didn't like Qui Gon's so I went with Obi Wan's. Sure you could change the colors around or whatever, but you were still only talking about many variations of brown and beige at that point b/c that's all you saw.

When AOTC came out there were a lot of Anakin Jedis all over the place, at least at C2 there were. Everyone had to have leather tabbards all of a sudden. But once the movie came out, people were able to see that there was actually a lot of variation. I think that as we get closer to C3 and the next movie there will be more variation. I know I for one am gonna change my inner tunic and my tabbards so they're a darker color.

I think we as Star Wars fans sometimes feel like we need permission from George in order to make changes to something. You see a stormtrooper who's blue instead of white and you freak out b/c you haven't seen that in a movie. Someone's got 4 data cylinders instead of 3 on her X-Wing costume and it's the end of the world. Someone's got purple tabbards instead of brown and you wanna call the cops. You're right in that we should shake things up a bit in the Jedi costuming realm, but there are also plenty of people who look like Obi Wan b/c they want to be Obi Wan.